We people happen to share history as well as novelty — without a glimpse to the hour. Plenty of examples in the media and over the Internet will show, the grammatical PRESENT or PAST do not depend on the linguistic context or the Aspect, Simple or Perfect.
It must be that we people can decide between the Simple Past or Present Perfect in mind. Let us have a look at a few examples.
The Perfect Aspect may be of choice to highlight regards.
5. Jim loves to hear from his little cousin. He met the kid last summer — Aspect Simple.
5a. Jim loves to hear from the little cousin he met last summer — Aspect Simple.
5b. Jim says (that) he met his little cousin last summer, and he loves to hear from her — Aspect Simple.
5c. Jim hasn’t seen his little cousin in a year; he spoke with her last summer, and he loves to hear from her — Aspect Perfect emphasizes the time; it maybe has felt long.
The Perfect always invokes a span of time and has an open frame. To close the frame, we need a cognitive ground. We could say,
5d. He says (that) he met his little cousin last summer.
The phrase “last summer” gives a cognitive ground in time. We could say the ground works like earthly gravitation: we always close the frame. It would be non-standard to say,
5e. *He has met Jim’s little cousin last summer.
In linguistics, an asterisk usually marks an incorrect expression.
Language standards build on how people think it is clear and comprehensible to speak or write. Our phrases are non-standard or incorrect when their shape is confused with regard to our knowledge or view to ideas as we refer to them in context.
The cognitive ground is in mind. Whether we are taking a walk, sailing, traveling in a space ship or submarine, or just reading a book, we can use the four variables, {ON, IN, TO} or {AT}.
The open frame may suggest highlights or effects, as well as prospects.
6. He has written ten books.
(He is likely to write more; his writing belongs with the PRESENT.)
6a. He wrote ten books.
(Maybe he is not going to write more; his writing belongs with a cognitive frame closed on a ground for the PAST.)
With a ground, our linguistic gravitation may bring a highlight.
6b. He wrote two books last year.
We do not consider if his writing belongs with the PRESENT or PAST. We have the notional ground about the time (last year), so the focus is on how many the books: those were two books he wrote.
To compare,
6c. He has written two books.
The focus is on the time span: so far, until this day, he has written two books; the years may have been many.
Classic grammar books might advise the Present Perfect in response to contexts as 6c:
6d. I have/haven’t seen the books.
Everyday American yet is likely to bring some cognitive ground:
6e. I never read/d or saw the books, and I was at the fair…
6f. I was reading one that summer, when…
Appendix 1. The verb
We can say the infinitive on its own is person and time neutral or objective, providing ancillary time.
All Aspect and Time
It is good to browse through language forms time and again, picture a few and turn them in mind.
Aspect Perfect usually takes the longest to master. If the cognitive ideas here really help make progress, we may spend our extra time getting to know about the world — and thinking about it with an Aspect of choice.
The world we live in is amazing. A paper-thin divide may have tons of water in chemical balance, salt and fresh. Halocline is the name for the delicate limit in water holes that have existed for millennia. The Internet has more.
